The black-robed wizard who knew Zheng Qing stepped forward twice, came to the young wizard's side, lowered his head, and carefully looked him over.
It was Teaching Assistant Hilda. The moment Zheng Qing saw the gleaming copper studs and rings on his face, he felt much more at ease.
"Old Yao should've put you in a straitjacket and locked you in the Black Prison," the teaching assistant muttered, grabbing the young wizard by the shoulder and hauling him up. "Instead of letting a bomb run wild everywhere... You've caused more trouble in one semester than I have in my whole life!"
Zheng Qing felt that Hilda's complaint seemed to contain far too much envy.
"I didn't want to either," the boy answered dryly.
The other groundskeepers and teaching assistants spread out, standing guard while searching the surrounding area for possible clues. An elderly groundskeeper in a gray robe walked over to Hilda, gave Zheng Qing a deep look, and lifted a finger.
Li Meng floated limply into the air and stopped before the wizards. Zheng Qing noticed a dried blade of grass still caught at her temple. It must have been a stray left behind when they had cleared the brush.
The old groundskeeper placed his fingers on Li Meng's wrist. A few seconds later, he nodded. "No danger."
Zheng Qing seemed to hear everyone around him let out a breath. Of course, that might have been only his imagination, because the elderly groundskeeper before him had not shown much change in expression from beginning to end.
"Same old rules. Fill out an incident report." Hilda skillfully pulled a clipboard from his waist, then stuffed a quill pen into Zheng Qing's hand. "Just write down everything you said earlier... and sign it at the end."
"I know," Zheng Qing muttered